A new survey shows the average English football fan spends almost 800 hours every year supporting their favourite team.

According to research from Virgin Money, the average fan spends 33 full days being a supporter – including travelling to and from matches, watching TV, searching the internet and talking about the game with friends.

The survey revealed around 12 per cent of fans admit to spending more than 30 hours a week on football. A dedicated 8 per cent spend more than 40 hours a week on the game – the equivalent to another working week on top of their job.

Fans of newly-promoted Burnley are the most dedicated in the Premier League just edging out Spurs fans while supporters of Sunderland, West Ham and Portsmouth are more relaxed.

Grant Bather, spokesman for Virgin Money, said: ‘It’s only 90 minutes on the day for the players but for the fans it’s a lot more than just a game.

‘Putting in 15.3 hours a week equates to two working days following the game and that’s just the average. Some supporters are putting in a week at work and then effectively another week following football – which begs the question how much time is spent talking football at work.

‘Dedicated fans invest a lot of money into the game and now we know they also invest a lot of time as well. It may be only a game but it certainly takes up a lot of time and effort.’

Not all fans are total obsessives though – a relaxed 4 per cent say they spend just three hours a week following the game.

Virgin Money’s Football Fans’ Inflation Index, which has tracked the cost of being a fan since January 2006, shows costs for fans have risen 15.1 per cent year-on-year and by 29.6 per cent compared to when the index launched in October 2006.

The index is aimed at helping supporters keep track of the rises and falls in the costs of supporting their team. The company identified the match day essentials fans buy and keeps tabs on increases and decreases.

At the launch of the index, the match day basket of goods cost £77.95. However the most recent analysis puts the cost at £101.02 – a rise of £23.07.

The Index runs every three months and the firm’s research team examines the cost of items such as a gallon of petrol, match tickets food, alcohol, train tickets and replica shirts.